Method and apparatus for the removal and replacement of railroad ties and the like



ALG. BODINE Feb. 24, 1970 mamop AND APPARATUS FDR THE REMOVAL nnREPLACEMENT OF RAILROAD TIES AND THE LIKE v 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept6, 1966 Feb. 24,1970

A. .G. BQDINE 3,496,383 METHOD AND -A1=rAnATu s FQR THE REMOVAL ANDREPLACEMENT 0F RAILROAD TIEsAND THE'LIKE Filed Sept. 6, 1966 3Sheets-Sheet z Feb. 24,1970 y me. BQDINE 3,

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE REMOVAL AND REPLACEMENT OF RAILROAD TIESAND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 6, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 /A/V N TOE. Aweer 6.1513mm;

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United States Patent 3,496,883 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE REMOVAL ANDREPLACEMENT OF RAILROAD TIES AND THE LIKE Albert G. Bodine, Los Angeles,Calif. (7877 Woodley Ave., Van Nuys, Calif. 91406) Filed Sept. 6, 1966,Ser. No. 577,499 Int. Cl. E01b 29/10, 27/00 U.S. Cl. 104-9 18 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A bar member is supported on a railroad tieto be removed and resonantly vibrated by means of an orbiting massoscillator which is mounted thereon. While high level sonic energy is inthis manner being coupled to the tie to loosen it from the earthenmaterial in which it is embedded, the tie is biased downwardly so thatit works away from the rails. The tie is then laterally pulled out fromunder the rails.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for the removal andreplacement of railroad ties and the like, and more particularly to sucha method and apparatus in which sonic energy is utilized to enable theaccomplishment of the removal and replacement operations in a highlyefficient manner.

Railroad ties need replacement during their service life sometimes atrelatively frequent intervals due to deterioration which lessens theirability to properly support the rails. One type of such deterioration iscaused by the gradual embedding of the rail and its tie plate into thetie caused by repeated travel of the train over the track. Anotherproblem is presented by the deterioration of the ballast around the tiewhich requires replacement of not only the ballast but also the tieitself.

A commonly employed technique of the prior art for removing railroadties utilizes a large guillotine type of cutting axe which chops the tiein two, the top surface of the tie then being split away so that theremnants thereof can be extracted from under the rail. This is asomewhat time consuming and difiicult operation and also results in thedestruction of the tie, ruining whatever salvage value it may have had.

The method and apparatus of this invention enable the removal andreplacement of railroad ties relatively rapidly and easily as comparedwith prior art techniques, leaving the removed tie substantially intact.The method and apparatus of this invention accomplish this significantimprovement over the prior art by coupling high-level sonic energy tothe tie and while such energy is being so Coupled biasing the tiedownwardly to cause it to work away from the rails until it iscompletely free therefrom. While continuing to sonically energize thetie to loosen it from the earthen material in which it is embedded andto fluidize such earthen material, the tie is pulled laterally out fromunder the rails. Sonic energy can also be utilized by means of thedevice of the invention to compact fresh ballast around a new tie in theinstallation thereof.

In the preferred embodiments of the device of the invention sonic energyis provided by means of orbitingmass oscillators, the vibrational outputof which is coupled to a bar member which in turn is supported on aU-shaped mounting. The mounting is placed on the tie and the oscillatorsare rotatably driven at a frequency such as to cause the resonantvibration of a vibration system including the bar member, the mountingmember and the tie. The bar member may be cylindrical in configurationand caused to vibrate gyrationally, this type of sonic action beingespecially effective in loosening the tie.

3,496,883 Patented Feb. 24, 1970 It is therefore an object of thisinvention to provide an improved method and apparatus for removingmembers from earthen material in which they are embedded.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a method andapparatus for removing and installing railroad ties which is more rapidand efiicient than prior art techniques.

It is still another object of this invention to provide means forutilizing sonic energy to efiiciently and rapidly remove railroad ties.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide an improvedmethod and apparatus for removing railroad ties in which the railroadties are left substantially intact.

Other objects of this invention will become apparent from the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, ofwhich:

FIGS. 1a-1c are a series of illustrations illustrating the method of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of a first embodiment of the device ofthe invention;

FIG. 3 is an end elevation view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an illustration showing an elliptical bar member which may beutilized in the device of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of a second embodiment of the device ofthe invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the plane indicated by 6-6in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating the utilization of the device ofthe invention for compacting ballast in the installation of tie members.

In order to facilitate the comprehension of the operation of the devicesand method of the invention, it is helpful to make an analogy between anelectrical resonant circuit and a mechanical resonant circuit. This typeof analogy is well known to those skilled in the art and is described,for example, in Chapter 2 of Sonics by Hueter and Bolt, published in1955 by John Wiley and Sons. In making such an analogy, force F isequated with electrical voltage E; velocity of vibration u is equatedwith electrical current i; mechanical compliance C is equated withelectrical capacitance C mass M is equated with electrical inductance L;mechanical resistance (such as friction) R is equated with electricalresistance R; mechanical impedance Z is equated with'electricalimpedance Z Thus it can be shown that if a member is elasticallyvibrated by a sinusoidal force F sin wt, to being equal to Z'rr timesthe frequency of vibration, that 1 F sin wt @o...) u 1 Where wM is equalto I/wC a resonant condition exists, and the effective mechanicalimpedance Z is equal to the mechanical resistance R the reactiveimpedance components wM and l/wC cancelling each other out. Under such aresonant condition, velocity of vibration u is at a maximum, effectivepower factor is unity, and energy is most efiiciently delivered to theobject being vibrated. It is such a high efficiency resonant conditionin the elastic system being driven that is preferably utilized in themethods and devices of this invention to achieve the desired endresults.

It is to be noted by reference to Equation 1 that velocity of vibrationu is highest where impedance Z is lowest, and vice versa. Therefore, ahigh-impedance load will tend to vibrate at relatively low velocity, andvice versa. Thus, at an interface between highand low-impedanceelements, a high relative movement results by virtue of such impedancemismatch which, as in the equivalent electrical circuit, results in ahigh reflected wave. In the device of this invention, while the earthenmaterial basically acts as a resistive load, there is some impedancemismatch between the railroad tie and the ballast material holding suchtie, particularly at the very top surface of the ballast which isutilized to advantage to help free the tie from such material.

Just as the sharpness of resonance of an electrical circuit is definedas the Q thereof, and is indicative of the ratio of energy stored to theenergy used in each cycle, so also the Q of the mechanical resonantcircuit has the same significance and is equal to the ratio between wMand R Thus high efficiency and considerable cyclic motion can beachieved by designing the mechanical resonant circuit for high Q, as,for example, by utilizing a metallic bar member having high elasticityand mass.

Of significance in the implementation of the method and devices of thisinvention, is the high acceleration of the components of the elasticresonant system that can be achieved at sonic frequencies. Theacceleration of a vibrating mass is a function of the square of thefrequency of the drive signal times the amplitude of vibration. This canbe shown as follows:

The instantaneous displacement of y of a sinusoidally vibrating mass canbe represented by the following equation:

where Y is the maximum displacement in the vibration cycle and w isequal to 21rf, 1 being the frequency of vibration.

The acceleration a of the mass can be obtained by diiferentiatingEquation 2 twice, as follows:

y=Y cos wt The acceleration a thus is a function of Y (21rf) Atresonance, Y is at a maximum, and thus even at moderately high sonicfrequencies, very high accelerations as achieved making forcorrespondingly high vibrational forces.

It is to be noted that in the device of this invention the mass andcompliance for forming the resonantly vibrating system are furnished bythe structural members of such system themselves such that the earthenformation is not incorporated in such system. The earthen material, fromwhich the tie is to be freed, under such conditions, acts as a frictionload which provides no large reactive components. This results in arandom vibration of the earthen particles, rather than a lumped coherentvibration from a reactance, with a considerable relative motion betweenthe separate grains. It is believed that each of the individualirregular grains when energized by the sonic energy in this fashionseparately vibrates in a random path with a relatively fixed radius ofvibration which changes in direction but remains fixed in magnitude.Such random vibration effectively separates the particles so that theydo not adhere to each other and are thus kept in a highly fluidcondition. The net result is a high degree of fluidization of theearthen structure.

In considering the significance of the parameters described inconnection with Equation 1, it should be kept in mind that the totaleffective resistance, mass and compliance in the acoustically vibratingcircuit are represented in the equation and that these parameters may bedistributed throughout the system rather than being lumped in any onecomponent or portion thereof.

It is also to be noted that an orbiting-mass oscillator is utilized inthe preferred embodiments of the invention that automatically adjustsits output frequency to maintain resonance with changes in thecharacteristics of the load. Thus, in the face of changes in theeffective mass and compliance presented by the load, the systemautomatically is maintained in optimum resonant operation by virtue ofthe lock in characteristics of applicants unique orbiting-massoscillator. The orbiting-mass oscillator Yw COS (wt) automaticallychanges not only its frequency but its phase angle and therefore itspower factor with changes in the resistive impedance load to assureoptimum efliciency of operation at all times. The vibrational outputfrom such an orbiting-mass oscillator is gyratory and has an output witha rotary force vector. This rotary force vector has a constantlychanging resultant force and motion in any particular direction. Thismeans that the effective output impedance goes through a cyclic patternsuch that as the impedance of the ballast material changes, at leastsome portion of each cyclic pattern will provide optimum sonicactivation of such material. The rotary sonic action provided by virtueof applicants orbitingmass oscillators thus affords specific advantagesto the implementation of the method and apparatus of this invention.

Refering now to FIGS. la-lc, the utilization of the method of theinvention for removing railroad ties is illustrated. As shown in FIG.la, the spikes (not shown) which have been holding rail 11 to tie 12have been removed. U-shaped mounting member 14 is placed on tie 12 nearthe center thereof. Mounting member 14 has a bar member 15 supportedthereon, this bar member being vibrationally driven by sonic oscillator16. Sonic oscillator 16, which is preferably of the orbiting-mass type,is rotatably driven by drive shaft 18 which receives its drive powerfrom gasoline engine 20 via drive belt 21. Engine 20 is supported onweight member 22 which is resiliently mounted on mounting 14 by means ofsprings 25. Weight 22 biases mounting 14 against tie 12 to provide tightsonic coupling between the tie and the mounting, and to urge the tiedownwardly away from rails 11. Springs 25 vibrationally isolate thevibrational system which includes mounting 14, bar 15 and tie 12, fromthe weight and engine drive system.

In carrying out the method of the invention, the entire unit is liftedinto position (as shown) with the mounting resting on the tie near thecenter thereof, by means of cables 27 which are operated by anappropriate lift mechanism on a railroad service car (not shown). Engine20 is then started so that it rotatably drives oscillator 16, therebysonically energizing bar member 15, mounting member 14 and tie 12.Engine 20 is adjusted to provide sonic resonant vibration of thevibrating system including the aforementioned bar, mounting and tiemembers. With such sonic energization earthen material 30 starts tofluidize and separate away from the tie, the tie thus becoming loosened.With such loosening of the tie and fiuidization of the earthen material,the bias weight forces the tie downwardly into the earthen material awayfrom rail 11. The sonic energization is continued until tie member 12has moved a downward distance of about one to two inches away from therails.

Cable 32 is connected to tie 12 by means of spike 33. When the tie hasbeen driven about one to two inches away from rails 11, the tie ispulled laterally out from under the rails by means of cable 32, thesonic energization being continued during this second procedure. Whenthe tie 12 has been pulled to the position where its further progress isimpeded by the abutment of mounting 14 against the rail, the mounting isrepositioned as indicated in FIG. 1b, to straddle the rail. The sonicenergization and pulling by means of cable 32 is resumed until furthermovement is again impeded. The mounting member 14 is then againrepositioned as indicated in FIG. 16, outside of the rail with the finalremoval of the tie being accomplished with the simultaneous sonicenergization and lateral pulling operations utilized heretofore.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, a first embodiment of the device of theinvention is illustrated. U-shaped mounting 14 is placed on tie 12. Thebottom portions of mounting 14 have serrations 14a formed therein whichcause such portions to grip the tie by virtue of the biasing weightapplied to mounting 14 by weight member 22. Cylindrical bar member 15 isshrink-fitted into mounting 14.

Oscillator units 16 are in turn shrink-fitted on the ends of bar member15. Each oscillator unit 16 comprises an eccentric rotor 16a having agear ring 16b attached thereto. Gear ring 16b rides around in the gearedraceway 160 formed in the inner wall of the oscillator housing 16d. Therotor is maintained in its eccentric position by means of pin member 16ewhich protrudes therefrom and rides around on a similar pin member 16fprotruding from the oscillator housing. The oscillator rotors 16a arerotatably driven by flexible shafts 40 which in turn are driven throughsplined ball and socket couplings 41 via shaft 42. Shaft 42 is driven bya belt and pulley drive 21 coupling shaft 42 to the output shaft 43 ofengine 20.

The rotors 16a of oscillator 16 are driven in phase, to provide sonicenergy to the ends of bar member 15. The frequency of rotation of rotors16a is adjusted to provide resonant vibration of the vibration systemcomprising the bar member 15, the mounting 14 and tie 12. Biasing weight22 is resiliently supported on mounting 14 by means of isolating springs25, the opposite ends of such springs being attached to weight 22 andmounting 14, respectively, by suitable clamping means (not shown). Theentire unit is positioned in place and removed, when the operation hasbeen completed, by means of cables 27 which are attached to weightmember 22 and may be operated by a suitable lift mechanism on a railwayservice car.

It is to be noted that the excitation of bar member 15 with a circularvibration pattern is particularly suited to efficient loosening of theballast around the tie in view of the constantly changing force vectorsand the constantly changing output impedance vector inherent thereto.This enables an optimum impedance match between the tie and the ballastat some one instant during the vibration cycle, thereby assuring propersonic excitation of the ballast material as it rapidly changes from ahighto a low-impedance with its loosening and fluidization.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an elliptical bar member 15, which may beutilized in the device of the invention in lieu of the cylindrical barmember of the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3, is illustrated. The use ofsuch an elliptical bar member has advantages where sonic excitationpredominantly along a single axis is desired rather than the circularvibration described in connection with the previous embodiment. Majorand minor axes of the elliptical bar member will each have separateresonant vibration frequencies such that vibration along one or theother of these axes can be predominantly achieved by selecting one orthe other of these frequencies respectively. Thus, in a specialsituation where it is found that vibration along a single axis is neededto provide the desired loosening and fluidization efiects, an ellipticalbar member can be utilized and either lateral or longitudinal vibrationachieved by appropriate selection of the vibration frequency.

Referring now to FIGS. and 6, a second embodiment of the device of theinvention is illustrated. This second embodiment is particularly suitedfor situations where high power and/ or high frequency of vibration isrequired. This second embodiment also has the advantage of moreefficiently applying gyratory vibrational energy to the bar member. Asshown in FIG. 5, oscillators 16 are shrinkfitted on the ends of bar 215and are rotatably driven by means of gear trains 45 coupled to theoutput shafts of engine 20 by means of drive shafts 47. The housings forthe gear trains 45 are supported on weight member 22 by means of supportmembers 50. Mounting 14 is similar in configuration to that described inthe first embodiment and weight member 22 is similarly supported on themounting by means of springs 25.

Referring now particularly to FIG. 6, the details of oscillators 16 andtheir associated drive mechanisms are illustrated. The output gear 51 ofgear train 45 rotatably drives gear 52 which is attached to shaft 53.Shaft 53 has a socket 54 at the end thereof, which is splined and formsa ball and socket joint with splined ball member 60. Ball member 60 isfixedly attached to shaft 62 which has a crown gear 63 attached to theend thereof. Gear 63 forms a spline joint with splined annular portion66 of rotor drive member 67. Rotor drive member 67 is rotatably mountedon ball bearings 70. The splined joints between ball member 60 andsocket member 54 and crown gear 63 and splined portion 66 furnish playin the drive system which avoids undue strain on such system with theoperation of the oscillator.

Rotor member 16a has a spur gear 16b attached thereto which rides aroundin a mating ring gear coincident with the raceway in the oscillatorhousing 16d. The rotor has a pin member 16e which rides around a pinmember 67a protruding from rotor drive member 67. Rotor member 16a thusrides around a raceway formed in its housing in the same manner as therotor described in connection with the first embodiment. In thisinstance, however, the drive mechanism is coupled to the rotor in such afashion that the drive shaft need not greatly flex as the rotor rotates,and thus is not subjected to the load forces involved in the oscillatorof the previous embodiment. This enables more efiicient operation whichis especially necessary in the cases of high-frequency and/or high-poweroperation.

It is to be noted that the first embodiment by virtue of the off-centerrelationship between the oscillator units and the gyratory bar providesa torsional component to the vibration system which effects a morecomplex sonic action in the tie to further aid the fluidization efiects.

Referring now to FIG. 7, the utilization of the device of the inventionfor compacting fresh ballast around a tie is schematically illustrated.For this purpose, tamping shoes 75 in the form of flat plates may beutilized. The U-shaped mounting member 14 may be placed so as tostraddle tie 1'12 and while resting on fresh ballast 78 is sonicallyactivated to cause the particles of the ballast to fluidize and when thesonic energy is released to fall in place in tight compaction againstthe tie. Thus the sonic energy can be utilized not only to remove tiesbut also in their installation.

The method and apparatus of this invention thus provide highly effectivemeans for the removal and replacement of railroad ties. It is to benoted that this method and apparatus can also be utilized to equaladvantage for installing and removing other similar types of apparatus,such as pipes, structural members and the like.

While the method and apparatus of this invention have been described andillustrated in detail, it is to be clearly understood that this isintended by way of illustration and example only and is not to be takenby way of limitation.

I claim:

1. A method for removing a railroad tie from under rails, comprising:

removing the spikes holding the rails to the tie;

coupling a resonator member to said t-ie;

coupling an orbiting mass oscillator to said resonator member;

driving said oscillator at a frequency such as to cause resonantvibration of said resonator member and said tie;

while said tie is being resonantly vibrated, biasing the tie downwardlyto cause it to work away from the rails and completely free therefrom;and

while continuing to sonically energize the tie to fluidize the earthenmaterial in which it is embedded, pulling the tie laterally from underthe rails.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the sonic energy used has arotating force vector.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the bar and oscillator areperiodically removed from the tie to permit the tie to move under therails as the tie is pulled laterally and then replaced in a centralposition on the tie clear of the rails 4. In combination, earthenmaterial, a member embedded in the earthen material and a device forsonically energizing said member comprising:

a mounting placed on said member; a bar attached to said mounting; anorbiting-mass oscillator, the vibrational output of said oscillatorbeing coupled to said bar; and

means for driving said oscillator at a frequency such as to causeresonant vibration of the vibration system including said bar, saidmounting, and said member,

whereby high-level sonic energy is imparted to said earthen material.

5. The combination as recited in claim 4 wherein said mounting isU-shaped.

6. The combination as recited in claim 4 wherein said member comprises arailroad tie and additionally including biasing means for urging saidmounting downwardly against said tie.

7. The combination as recited in claim 6 wherein said biasing meanscomprises a weight member and said driving means comprises a motormounted on said weight member, and means for resiliently supporting saidweight member on said mounting.

8. The combination as recited in claim 4 wherein said oscillator isattached directly to said bar substantially in coaxial relationship withthe longitudinal axis thereof.

9. The combination as recited in claim 4 wherein said oscillator ismounted on said mounting with its rotation axis offset from thelongitudinal axis of said bar.

10. The combination as recited in claim 4 where-in said bar iscylindrical.

11. The combination as recited in claim 4 wherein said bar member has anelliptical cross-section 12. A device for removing a railroad tie fromthe ground, comprising:

a U-shaped support mounting, the free ends of the legs of said mountingresting on said tie;

an elongated bar member attached to said mounting;

a biasing weight member;

means for resiliently supporting said weight member on said mounting;and

means for resonantly vibrating said bar member, said mounting and saidtie at a sonic frequency including orbiting-mass oscillator means, thevibrational output of said oscillator means being coupled to said barmember and motor means mounted on said weight member for rotatablydriving said oscillator means,

whereby the sonic energy loosens the tie from the ground and fiuidizesthe ground to permit the removal of the tie therefrom.

13. The device as recited in claim 12 wherein said bar member iscylindrical and said oscillator is adapted to impart a rotating forcevector thereto.

14. The device as recited in claim 12 wherein said bar member has anelliptical cross-section.

15. The device as recited in claim 12 wherein said oscillator means ismounted directly on said bar member substantially in coaxialrelationship with the longitudinal axis thereof 16. The device asrecited in claim 12 and further including means for pulling said tielaterally.

17. The device as recited in claim 12 wherein said oscillator meanscomprises a pair of oscillator units coupled to opposite ends of saidbar member, said oscillator units being driven in phase with each other18. A device for the removal and replacement of railroad ties in anearthen formation, comprising:

a U-shaped support mounting;

an elongated bar member attached to said mounting;

a biasing weight member;

means for resiliently supporting said weight member on said mounting;and

means for resonantly vibrating said bar member and said mounting at asonic frequency including orbiting-mass oscillator means, thevibrational output of said oscillator means being coupled to said barmemher and motor means mounted on said weight member for rotatablydriving said oscillator means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,850,815 9/1958 Edwards.2,283,929 5/1942 Hughes 104-9 3,372,651 3/1968 Plasser ct al. 104l2ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner RICHARD A. BERTSCH, AssistantExaminer US. Cl. X.R. 17116

